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Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
A local gentleman, Brian Kleinman, who has been doing educational shows, etc. in our area for years, just opened up a Reptile Education Center/Zoo in my home town of Enfield, CT. Katie and I got a family membership early on in the process and spent some time speaking with him and staff. Well, this weekend was opening weekend for members only, and they officially open next weekend.
Wow, what a cool place. Some amazing setups and some amazing animals with more to come.
https://www.riversidereptileseducationcenter.com
https://www.facebook.com/riversidere...ucationcenter/
Pics below of some of the animals, but nowhere near everything he's got.
I want to say the staff was incredibly nice and knowledgeable, and Brian spent 10 minutes with me troubleshooting Behira's shedding issue (and we both agreed if it's improving and she's pounding food and growing, let it be) and just talking reptiles.
I will definitely be taking advantage of my membership.
If anyone in MA or CT, or wherever, want to spend a fun time looking at some unique critters, including many we really cannot keep or don't want the responsibility for at home, I highly recommend Riverside Reptiles Education Center.
If you head, down, let me know, I am not far and it would be fun to meet up as well.
Spitting Cobra
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/TA6gSqk.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/gdO1BeW.jpg
Brenda the Alligator
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/BnIvJ99.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/nku9rZC.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/8CnaTBt.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/faTn0y3.jpg
Percy, Male Burm
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/fze21Nw.jpg
Eastern Diamondback and Albino Western Diamondback
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/cOStTO9.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/IvHRsKh.jpg
Copperhead
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/zjqpShW.jpg
Beauty Snakes
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/XIS2Uvr.jpg
Dwarf Caiman's
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/71OLsnQ.jpg
Asian Water Monitor
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/BfK8Q4O.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/HiFWnwX.jpg
Pygmy Rattlesnakes
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/P64LCIo.jpg
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Well now they don't have to go... you showed them all the reptiles. [emoji6]
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Quote:
Originally Posted by SunshineWalker
Well now they don't have to go... you showed them all the reptiles. [emoji6]
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
Not even close. Besides, it’s different in person.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
I wish my area had something like that. I'll have to stop by if I am ever out there.
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Wow, looks like they did a really BEAUTIFUL job building that place! I'm very impressed...& you're very lucky to have this nearby. :gj:
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What an awesome place! Thanks for the pics.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bogertophis
Wow, looks like they did a really BEAUTIFUL job building that place! I'm very impressed...& you're very lucky to have this nearby. :gj:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reinz
What an awesome place! Thanks for the pics.
I too am impressed.
It's great that it's nearby and the place is really amazing. I am just happy to see education on reptiles done right. Not just the interactions the staff has with the guests, which is great (they are knowledgeable and friendly) and often interactive as they (sometimes) walk around with animals to show people, but the way the place is kept. The exhibits are well maintained and the animals are healthy.
In my mind, that is really important because it shows people the proper ways to keep reptiles. No, not everyone can have a 20'X15' enclosure with a pool for their giant constrictor, or their asian water monitor, or even anything approaching that. However, showing proper cleanliness, proper diet, etc. is great.
Very often in pet stores, and even zoos I've been to, the focus isn't as much on education and on the animals' health and well being.
I really cannot say enough how impressed I am with this place.
I should add it's nice to see grown retics, anacondas, etc. in these nice setups as well because it might discourage some people from getting a cute baby retic knowing what it can grow into. It would be nice if some people used restraint when purchasing reptiles that are demanding, dangerous, or just plain old too big for most people to handle without help.
It is cool that Brian, the owner, built the center as much for him, or so it seems, as for the public/guests. He really seems to love all these animals and be proud to give them proper homes and care.
I was talking to him today about the female green mamba. She is gorgeous, by the way, and doesn't even seem real (I'll have to get better pictures). Stunning animal. Anyway, he (obvisouly) uses great care when interacting with her, but talks about her personality and tendencies from a place of respect and love.
I guess I'll have to live vicariously through him and the center because my blood pressure and pulse go through the roof feeding Behira when she's a hungry boa. I am not a cool enough character to play with big constrictors or the venomous snakes. I know that. I get a rush other ways Brian might think is crazy (racing cars, motorcycle riding, etc.), but have huge respect for him and other people who do keep those type of animals.
Again, I just wish more people realized their own limitations. Having said that, Brian pushed the envelope and has a great place to show for it.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Please post more pics when you get the chance! I love green mambas!
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
That is awesome! Thanks for sharing the pics.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Katie and I took our niece, Meghan, to the Education Center today. She had a great time and said Brenda, the alligator, was her favorite. She got to hold a Honduran milk snake and pet Zeus (pictured below) a Burmese python. We also caught the tortoises eating some pumpkin.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
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Really good stuff, thanks! I especially love those scales on the green mamba...so distinctive, aren't they? (-but I don't want one!)
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bogertophis
Really good stuff, thanks! I especially love those scales on the green mamba...so distinctive, aren't they? (-but I don't want one!)
Stunning in person. She almost doesn't look real.
I don't want one either :).
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Quote:
Originally Posted by dakski
...I don't want one either :).
Somehow I knew that...;) (I can recall talking you out of a hognose, lol.)
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
These pictures are nothing short of amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
The mangrove has some serious stealth going on.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
The pictures are amazing! So many awesome animals!
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Katie and I took our niece, Meghan, to a snake event at riverside reptiles.
We saw everything from an Eastern Rat Snake to an Emerald Tree Boa and a 120 pound reticulated python. All in all, we got to see up close and touch 7 snakes and one legless lizard. Honestly, the legless lizards creep me out a little. They are not quite a lizard and not quite a snake. Weird. I did pet this particular female who was rather friendly and calm. Very rough skin/scales.
The highlight to me was an eastern copperhead that the owner has had for 10 years and was born in his care. She was in a plexiglass box, but he did bring it around and we all got to see her up very close. WOW. She was stunning. Amazing eyes too. It happened pretty quick, so I didn't get a picture of her, but it was very cool.
While we were there, we checked out the Green Mamba enclosure. He now has a male in with the female and we caught the female in the act of shedding. That was pretty cool if for no other reason than to see her amazing freshly shed bright green scales!
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What a great day! Getting to watch that mamba up in those branches to shed, how great is that!
And copperheads are gorgeous snakes, for sure. So many great snakes, so little time (& energy & space & money...sigh!)
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Riverside Reptiles took my two Rhaco's (Ezzy and Ferry) as a donation as that was the best thing for all. I discuss this in another thread, but basically, they were a lot if work and with my health where it is, along with other time constraints, it made sense to find them a great home.
They are doing amazing and being well cared for.
Anyway, in exchange for the "donation" of Ezzy and Ferry and their tanks, Brian (who owns and runs Riverside Reptiles) agreed to let my niece Meghan (pictured throughout this site) have a day as a zookeeper and for Katie (aka Sunshinewalker), my wonderful wife, to have a tortoise feeding experience. Meghan had a wonderful time and Katie had a great time as well. Brian even let me feed the tortoises! I had a great time, but Katie especially did.
Below are pics of Katie feeding the tortoises. I wasn't able to go to Meghan's zookeeper day so I don't have pics of that.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/u98Hsl1.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/ltkfTtW.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/VQyep09.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/hvDBwCR.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/0erZffJ.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/khkLUQh.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/8VOfwUY.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/501nQCA.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/bGQSL1g.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/4n736th.jpghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/SJONU9O.jpg
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I'll say this was an AWESOME day! :gj: Nothing beats interacting with these animals, either as "zoo-keeper for a day" or feeding that huge beautiful tortoise. Way to go!
Glad to hear your "Rhacos" are doing well there too- I'd be surprised if they weren't- it looks like an excellent facility, & that was a difficult but wise decision on your part.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bogertophis
I'll say this was an AWESOME day! :gj: Nothing beats interacting with these animals, either as "zoo-keeper for a day" or feeding that huge beautiful tortoise. Way to go!
Glad to hear your "Rhacos" are doing well there too- I'd be surprised if they weren't- it looks like an excellent facility, & that was a difficult but wise decision on your part.
Most of the pics are of Katie feeding "Tank" and "Dozer." She had an awesome time and was smiling the entire feeding.
It was a tough decision to re-home Ferry and Ezzy, but it's great to see them continuing to thrive and for me to have a little more time with the 9 reptiles I still have. I am glad I made the decision and made it before (potentially) they or the rest of my collection suffered. They were in great health and cared for when I gave them to Brian and Riverside Reptiles, and they are still doing great. That makes me happy. Sadly, Brian was shocked at how well they were doing and how clean the enclosures were, etc. He was expecting much worse, which seems to be the norm when someone wants to re-home an animal, especially, a reptile.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Quote:
Originally Posted by dakski
... Sadly, Brian was shocked at how well they were doing and how clean the enclosures were, etc. He was expecting much worse, which seems to be the norm when someone wants to re-home an animal, especially, a reptile.
That's a very typical & sad truth, I agree. People lose interest & totally neglect to clean or sometimes even feed pets. :tears: And they often wait too long to re-home reptiles- hey, reptiles can't "complain" (they don't whine or cry like cats & dogs, & don't squawk like birds do)- they're just quiet prisoners if they end up with the wrong owner.
When I got into rattlesnakes years back, I had some turned over to me that really smelled horrible- it wasn't their fault, they'd been kept in filthy cages for a long time. I quickly figured out how to safely bathe them & you could tell they really appreciated being clean- they just felt better. But some people think nothing of keeping them that way. :(
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Katie and I had a paint night date at the Reptile Zoo!
I got some cool shots of the Spitting Cobra after shed, the Green Mambas, and the Dwarf Caiman.
We had a great time and Katie painted Yafe (CP) onto a whiskey bottle while I painted the two green mambas smoking cigars. Clearly, Katie has the artistic abilities, but what I lack for in skill, I make up for ingenuity?
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Don't you know that smoking is bad for snakes? I've convinced myself that they're eating Repti-links instead. :D
Great pics! Looks like a fun outing.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bogertophis
Don't you know that smoking is bad for snakes? I've convinced myself that they eating Repti-links instead. :D
Great pics! Looks like a fun outing.
Smoking cigars is bad for me too, but I still do it (not every day or anything). Yeah, with one working lung, probably very bad for the snakes. I encourage people not to smoke or even use strong cleaning scents or ingredients near reptiles.
I never smoke in the house.
It was a lot of fun. It's a good outlet for Katie who loves to paint and as you can see, is quite good at it.
Eve, the Cobra, was hiding but many of the danger noodles were out and looking amazing. From the Albino Eastern Diamondback to the Timber Rattler. Should have gotten more pics. I will next time. I was focusing on my art this time!
The 17FT retic female laid eggs and I went in the other day and it was very quiet. End of the day and a weekday. Brian (the owner of the zoo) let me hold one of the (at the time) 2 week old tiger retic babies. Still as big as a grown corn snake. They were very inquisitive and those orange eyes with the black pupil are stunning. Way too big a snake for me in the long run (also not legal here in CT without a permit). Tonight they did bring in one of their young female burmese to show us. She was about 4 years old and as big as I'd like any snake in my house to be. Total sweetheart, but it doesn't fool me, she will be huge.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Thank you dakski! What a spectacular center for reptile education, the animals, the clientele, all seem like a must see. My wife and I are surely going to book a visit there. Already friended them on Facebook. Your photos and explanation of the facility make it so appealing and interesting as well. Can’t wait to get there!
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Quote:
Originally Posted by Albert Clark
Thank you dakski! What a spectacular center for reptile education, the animals, the clientele, all seem like a must see. My wife and I are surely going to book a visit there. Already friended them on Facebook. Your photos and explanation of the facility make it so appealing and interesting as well. Can’t wait to get there!
You are welcome, Albert. It's a great place.
If you come up, drop me a PM. I'd enjoy meeting up.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Pics from yesterday's trip to Riverside Reptiles:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/6H3rRUw.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/RVbnBkI.jpg
This is an albino eastern diamondback rattlesnake. I heard that they are the largest pit viper in the world, but seeing it next to other species of rattlesnake put that into perspective.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/OMQE2tN.jpg
Growing up I was always taught to beware of copperheads, but I think I only saw one once. At that time, I wasn't able to get this close to appreciate it.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/OJZZWkm.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/lWn1gDZ.jpg
My kids practically fell over laughing at these tiger salamanders. So derpy looking!
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/QZYWzXo.jpg
I was truly awed by these full sized mainland reticulated pythons. I watch lots of videos about them. They're frequently discussed on this forum, but seeing one in person helped me to better understand both why people want to keep them and why it's a terrible idea.
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My kids and I really appreciated how accessible all the animals were. I've been to enough zoos where I struggled to see any of the animals on display to know that doesn't happen by accident. Here I was able to easily see all of them. That's a tribute to those that designed and run this facility. If you're ever in the area, it's well worth the money.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
Seriously, anyone in the area, they are definitely worth a visit.
If anyone stops by there, please PM me, we are very close and would love to meet up and/or show off our reptiles too!
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
We often go to programs at Riverside Reptiles meant to raise awareness and benefit local animal rescue groups. Last year we met some possum's that could not be rehabilitated to go back in the wild. We learned a lot in that program about North America's only marsupial. This past weekend, we went to a Birds of Prey program put on by Horizon Wings (https://www.horizonwings.org). They were informative and brought some cool birds.
We learned that Peregrine Falcon's can dive over 240mph! They are mostly bird hunters and hit them out of the sky (literally ram them). Sometimes the falcon doesn't make it either because of the force. Peregrine's have a much stronger breast plate than other birds and have a heart about 3X the size of other birds (proportionally). They need to in order to handle 18-21 G Forces when diving and pulling out of a dive. When diving, a Peregrine's heart can beat 600-800X a minute! I actually had the privilege of seeing one dive in Rocky Mountain National Park years ago.
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Owls are silent hunters. They have special feathers not the back of their wings that allow them to fly without making almost any noise. This allows them to sneak up on prey. They also have ears that are not symmetrical (I think most if not all species of owls - but do not quote me on that). This allows them to move their heads and pinpoint prey. They also have huge eyes to help see at night and cannot move their eyes! They can move their heads about 180 degrees each way and have many more vertebrae in their neck than other species of birds and other animals. They also have something like 8,000 feathers!
The owls below are the same species (Eastern Screech Owls) and have different coloring (which I believe they said was random).
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https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...13e2858df.jpeg
Bald Eagles are mostly fish eaters and are scavengers and bullies. They will scare off other birds and eat their catch. Their wingspan is more than 6FT and the males are noticeably smaller than the females (about 7-9 pounds versus about 12-15 pounds). They also sound pretty weak - like a seagull more than a giant bird of prey. Not very intimidating. I would not say it to their beak though.
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When speaking about the Kestrels (below), they mentioned they not only have incredible eyesight, but can make out certain things that we as humans can't see. For example, mouse urine looks iridescent to them. This allows them to follow a prey item more easily. The program guide said that sometimes they will follow a prey item, like a mouse, under a piece of wood (for example) and wait for it to come out and grab it. I asked how intelligent they were to have patience like that. We were told that that many birds of prey are fairly intelligent. More closely related to parrots than say, a sparrow.
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Finally, being at the top of the food chain means they are susceptible to poisoning from prey items.
Kill rodents with traps, not poison. Better for all involved. The poison is terrible to the rodent and then makes its way to the predators.
When hunting, use copper plated bullets and fishing weights, NOT LEAD. The lead from one bullet can kill an eagle. Fishing line is also bad. Please do not leave it behind.
Birds of prey can be great at keeping farms and fields clean of rodents and bugs, etc. Maybe even better than pesticides and poisons that end up killing the predators and allowing the prey population to grow unhindered.
I am not trying to preach and I am just passing on what we were told. However, it makes sense to me. Respect nature. That's what it comes down to.
It was amazing seeing these incredible animals up close.
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Re: Riverside Reptiles Education Center - Enfield, CT
If they ever Zoom these programs, let me know. I, generally, hate Zoom, but I would attend one for this.
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